Skywatchers across the Southern and Midwestern United States, including Arkansas and Louisiana, witnessed on Saturday, December 21, 2024 the re-entry of space debris from a deorbiting Chinese satellite.
Press reports say that after 10 p.m., slow-moving debris streaked across the night sky and was seen by thousands of people. The debris fell in a north-northwest direction from the Gulf of Mexico, over New Orleans, Greenwood, MS, Helena and Corning, AR, eastern Missouri and into Iowa.
Astronomer Jonathan McDowell said the disintegrating commercial imaging satellite was the GaoJing 1-01 operated by Beijing-based SpaceView. “(It) reentered above New Orleans at (10:08 p.m. CST Dec. 21) heading northbound towards MS, AR, MO and was widely observed,” he wrote on the X social media platform…